Saturday, May 5, 2018

Buhari’s American Visit: The High and Low Points

There was a lot of trepidation that President Buhari’s visit
to the US would be as gaffe-plagued as most of his foreign visits. (During an
October 2016 German visit, for instance, while standing beside the world’s most
powerful woman, Buhari dissed his wife as fit only for his “kitchen” and “the
other room.” While in the UK in February 2016, he said diasporan Nigerians are
resented in the West because they are criminals. A few weeks ago in the UK, he
described “a lot of” Nigerian youth as illiterate, parasitic idlers).

I have to admit that
in terms of protocol and comportment, the president did well this last visit—like
he did in his first American visit. He was composed, presidential, and
admirably guarded. (Americans said he looked “caged” and intimidated, but I
didn’t see that.) During his joint press briefing with President Trump, Buhari
chose his words wisely, carefully, and deliberately— and committed no gaucherie.

I particularly liked how he handled the “gotcha” questions
from reporters, such as the one that wanted to know if he discussed Trump's belittling
of African countries as "shitholes." Buhari's gracious response to
the question was certainly the trigger for Trump's hyperbolic,
you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours remark about there being "no
country more beautiful" than Nigeria in the world. It would have been
supremely awkward and socially tactless to ask Trump about an uncomplimentary
comment he didn’t make publicly.

My recounting of Buhari's first visit to America, published
in my July 25, 2015 column titled, "President Buhari's Grand Movements in America," was also overwhelmingly positive. I wrote: "From his
polished, dignified comportment during meetings with Obama and other top
American government officials at the White House, to his exceptionally
well-written and brilliantly delivered speech at the United States Institute of
Peace, to his dexterous and humorous responses to questions from audience
members at the USIP, to his perfect poise and self-assured delivery at the
American Chamber of Commerce dinner, to his witty, informative session with
Nigerians in America, and to his interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour,
President Buhari shone like a star."

The Low Points

There were three major low points in the visit for me. The
first is that Buhari allowed Trump to get away with a horrendous factual
inaccuracy about the mass insecurity in the country. "We’ve had very
serious problems with Christians who have been murdered, killed in Nigeria,” Trump
said. “We’re going to be working on that problem and working on that problem
very, very hard because we can’t allow that to happen.”

Of course, Trump didn’t say that out of any genuine concern
for Nigerian Christians. (Trump isn’t even a believing, churchgoing Christian).
He said it simply to stir up his US support base, which is largely evangelical
Christian. Instead of looking at him stone-faced and tongue-tied, Buhari could
have said something like, “I thank you, Mr. President, for your concern about
the needless deaths in my country. It’s true that a lot of Christians have been
murdered by herders, but just as many Muslims have been murdered by the same
people. In spite of appearances to the contrary, this isn’t a religious war.”
Or something along those lines.

No one who is even halfway sincere can make the case with a
straight face that the murderous fury of bloodthirsty herders across Nigeria is
motivated by religion. Zamfara people, who are predominantly Muslims, are as
much victims of the homicidal marauders as the predominantly Christian Benue
and Plateau people.

The second low point was Buhari’s admission that he sought
no favors from Trump other than buying “helicopters” to fight Boko Haram. He
said it was not in his place to tell America where to buy its crude oil from.
Yet Trump said he wanted Nigeria to open its market for American agricultural
products, shortly after Buhari disclosed that increased local rice production
in Nigeria had caused a 90 percent reduction in the importation of rice. How
could Buhari waste an opportunity to negotiate deals in the interest of the
nation, something Trump did for his own country? Being sold “helicopters” to
fight insurgents isn’t exactly a favor because Nigeria paid for it—illegally it
turned out.

My guess is that Buhari was tongue-tied with excessive
restraint because he was overly scripted. He appeared to be intimidated by
Trump who has a reputation for antagonistic brusqueness. Buhari probably also
didn’t want to risk being publicly tongue-lashed and humiliated by Trump, so he
towed the line of least resistance by being unnaturally meek.

The third low point was Buhari’s stigmatization of northern
youth in his interview with the Voice of America on Tuesday. When he was asked
to clarify his reference to Nigerian youth as uneducated, entitled parasites,
the president implied that his remark was actually directed at northern
Nigerian youth.

“You know in the north most youths are uneducated or school
dropouts. If not because we had good harvests in the last two farming seasons,
the situation would have deteriorated," he said. “These youths even if
they travel out of the north for greener pasture they hardly make it
economically because what they earn as income cannot afford them to meet their
basic needs or return home."

So, again, the president chose a foreign media outlet in a
foreign land to narrow down and double down on his unprovoked, unwarranted censure
of the youth. Well, at least it's no longer "a lot of" Nigerian youth
that are lazy and uneducated; just "most" northern youth. When he
travels to another country someday soon, he will probably narrow it further to
"northern Muslim youth"— and perhaps even further to God knows what.
Since most of his defenders are northern youth, this won't provoke any outrage.
The affront will probably be worn as a badge of honor.

In other words, since the president's initial London answer,
which he "clarified" to VOA, was in response to investment
opportunities in the northeast, he was basically telling potential foreign
investors to steer clear of the north because the region's youth are mostly
parasitic, uneducated, entitled do-nothings. Even if this were true, which
responsible president goes abroad to castigate his compatriots? I have no
problem with telling each other uncomfortable home truths at home. But to
outsiders who are actually giving you an opportunity to say something positive
about your people? No!

And why would a president on whose watch youth unemployment
more than doubled have no twinge of moral compunction about stigmatizing and
denigrating his country's vulnerable youth population abroad? Youth
unemployment was 14.9 in July 2015. By July 2017, it climbed to 33.1, according
to the National Bureau of Statistics. And given the trend from 2015, it doesn't
seem likely that this grim picture will change for the better by July 2018.

By denouncing Nigerian youth in London when he was asked to
tell the world about investment opportunities in the north, Buhari dug a hole
and threw the sand away. By narrowing his denunciation to “most northern youth”
in Washington, DC, he dug a fresh hole and used the sand from it to cover the
first hole he dug. But it’s the same difference: there is still an uncovered
hole. Well, an English proverb says, "You can't teach an old dog new
tricks."

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About Me

Dr. Farooq Kperogi is a professor, journalist, newspaper columnist, author, and blogger based in Greater Atlanta, USA. He received his Ph.D. in communication from Georgia State University's Department of Communication where he taught journalism for 5 years and won the top Ph.D. student prize called the "Outstanding Academic Achievement in Graduate Studies Award." He earned his Master of Science degree in communication (with a minor in English) from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and won the Outstanding Master's Student in Communication Award. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication (with minors in English and Political Science) from Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, where he won the Nigerian Television Authority Prize for the Best Graduating Student. He writes a weekly column for the Nigerian Tribune. His research has won top awards. Read more about him here: https://www.farooqkperogi.com/p/about-me.html